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Music Spanned Generations at 2008 CMA Music Festival
- Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood rolled through the hits at LP Field in Nashville on Friday night. Craig Shelburne has the highlights. Whitney Self tackled Saturday’s events, where Kenny Rogers closed the evening with some of his hits.
- Marc Hirsh says Jason Aldean performed an opening set for Tim McGraw’s recent concert at the Comcast Center that would have suited Matchbox 20. McGraw himself remained fairly low-key, opting instead to let his 10-man band play it big and dramatic.
- The Steeldrivers scored a date with the Conan O’Brien Show for July 18th.
- The line dance choreographer for Alan Jackson’s “Good Time” video, Jenny Cain, has a blog post detailing the making of the video.
- Keith Kaufman, the program director for WSIX-FM, Nashville, on Jessica Simpson’s latest single: “This is as good as any Carrie Underwood song.”
- David Cantwell calls Bill C. Malone’s 1968 book Country Music, U.S.A. the definitive history of the music–”the key volume on a very short shelf of country music books I’d call truly essential.”
Indeed, everyone and everything in the same vein that has followed — the genre’s key historians, including Richard Peterson and the late Charles Wolfe, from Country Music magazine writers like Patrick Carr and Nick Tosches and Bob Allen to those Rolling Stone critics like Chet Flippo and John Morthland who actually dared to champion country music when that wasn’t necessarily a cool move, on down to No Depression (where Malone himself has written on occasion) — descends from Country Music, U.S.A.
- Rodney Hayden finished recording a new album and says it’s by far the most country album he has recorded. Nice.
- Checkout the media section on Emmylou Harris‘ website for several videos where she talks about the songs she chose for her album All I Intended To Be.
- Watch Dwight Yoakam perform a medley of hits during his Saturday night Grand Ole Opry appearance, his first in 16 years:
- Everybody come on back for a live blog of tonight’s NBC premiere of Nashville Star.
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In Memory of Don Helms (1927 - 2008) Helms dated back to a time when an excellent four or five piece band and a good singer were all that were needed to make great country music. No drums, no light shows, no production tricks in the recording studio–just good music.
Don’t look now, but Darius Rucker, lead singer of 90s rock group Hootie & The Blowfish, has a country hit on his hands. What you probably haven’t heard is that Rucker is the first black artist to chart a single in the country top 20 since Charley Pride last did it in 1988.
News that former Sugarland member and co-founder Kristen Hall is suing her ex-mates, to the tune of $1.5 million, goes a long way towards providing a bit of context regarding the Atlanta singer/songwriter’s sudden departure from the group.
Josh Gracin - “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” Despite initial marketing that touted the album as deep and personal, “Unbelievable (Ann Marie)” is anything but deep or personal.
Josh Turner - "Everything Is Fine" Turner is the rare example of an artist who records material that’s both quality and trademark.
Darryl Worley - "Tequila On Ice" A groovy mid-tempo that sways, a refreshing reprieve from the exhausting pace of a format that clamors for loud music and swelling choruses.
Blake Shelton - "She Wouldn't Be Gone" It’s all about nailing the melody rather than providing a legitimate interpretation that accentuates the lyrical content, although Shelton does do a pretty good job of injecting what limited emotion he can.
Forgotten Artist: David Rogers David Rogers (1936-1993) is proof of the adage that it’s great to be on a major label, but only if the label is truly behind you.
Forgotten Artist: Charley Pride For the ’70s, Billboard has Charley listed as its third ranking singles artist behind only Conway Twitty and Merle Haggard. 
In this exclusive interview with The 9513, the Show Dog Records trio talks about growing up around Waylon and Jessi Colter, and about how those experiences have helped shaped their music as they set off on their own country music journey.
One of an emerging wave of artists empowered by decreasing production costs and a rapidly changing distribution landscape, Kelleigh Bannen has taken a do-it-yourself approach to her debut album, Radio Skies.Tagged In This Article
Alan Jackson // Carrie Underwood // Dwight Yoakam // Emmylou Harris // Grand Ole Opry // Jason Aldean // Jessica Simpson // Keith Urban // Kenny Rogers // Rodney Hayden // The Steeldrivers // Tim McGraw
Current Discussion
- leeann: I *did* mention the Lauderdale song in my review. I really liked it. He sounds...
- Thomas: "whereas rap was the word of truth, today country is where you go for honesty".....
- Razor X: The Jim Lauderdale track is excellent. Another one that I liked better than I t...
- Dylan Gramm: Why does that statement make Keith a racist?...
- f_t_e: Namely this: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/30/toby-keith-obama-white/ "...
- f_t_e: Yeah, because if there's anyone who would have supported John McCain, it's the m...
- Josh: Rascal's "I'm Moving On" was good.. that's all I got....
- Mirandas2cool: Kenny really has made some bad choices lately. I really like I go back and his o...
- Dylan Gramm: What's the Jim Lauderdale track like?...
- leeann: I didn't mention it in my review, but I didn't like the Skaggs duet either. It ...
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June 9, 2008 at 10:17 am Permalink
Speaking of Nashville Star, Paul King over at the Nashville Hype blog has been hyping The Hewitt Sisters for quite awhile now. He was so convincing I even bought their EP, which would be appreciated by Taylor Swift fans (me not so much). One of the sisters Ashlee Hewitt is a finalist on Nashville Star, so Paul wants everyone to vote for her! (lol) Since duos and groups are allowed this time its too bad sister Katrice won’t be part of the act. Oh well.. Here’s the link to read Paul’s Thoughts on this:
http://nashvillehype.com/
As for Fan Fair, I’m still waiting for someone to report on the Opry Plaza Party concert featuring The Wrights and Sunny Sweeney on Saturday afternoon. That would have been my # 1 must see concert event…
Dwight was definitely a highlight at Stagecoach and its glad to see him back at Fan Fair and the Opry after far too long of absence. Top 40 Airhead Country Radio may ignore him these days, but there are still a huge bunch of fans that love his music…
June 9, 2008 at 10:30 am Permalink
The comparison of “Come On Over” to the Carrie Underwood catalogue deserves a nomination for dumbest country music-related quote so far this year. And jeez, talk about a kick in the balls for Underwood’s writers. Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear are probably crying somewhere.
Love that Dwight medley.
June 9, 2008 at 10:52 am Permalink
I will watch Nashville Star if someone else is willing to buy the booze.
June 9, 2008 at 11:49 am Permalink
Strormy, I don’t think even pooling all our money will but that much booze.
June 9, 2008 at 1:17 pm Permalink
I was at all 4 CMA Festival concerts and just have this to add: Kenny Rogers lived up to his billing as a grade-A jerk. He also looked like death.
June 9, 2008 at 9:38 pm Permalink
Good for the Steeldrivers to get a big TV gig. I’ve been a fan of Tammy Rogers and Mike Henderson in their country/roots music careers, but I was surprised on how good this band is. Bluegrass with a definite soulful vibe, sort of like the Duhks with a male powerhouse singer.
I get the feeling that Keith Kaufman has a little more spending money since he started playing Jessica Simpson’s song on his station.
June 10, 2008 at 9:51 am Permalink
Sam: You have heard about The Duhks’ line up changes right?
June 10, 2008 at 1:38 pm Permalink
To Matt who is obviously the GRADE A jerk here.He performed for free and he is 70. Have you ever done ANYTHING to raise money for anything or ANYONE
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